Give your pool a face-lift

By Steve Bennett :
July 12, 2013
: Updated: July 15, 2013 1:38pm

Landscape architect John Troy designed a pool remodel done by Artesian Pools. The makeover gave the pool new stone decking and coping along the edge, new tile along the waterline, a spa and a quartz-finish resurface.

Photo By Photo by Steve Bennett

A basic pool remodel -- including new tiling, stone coping and resurfacing -- is underway in Alamo Heights.

Photo By Courtesy photo

Craftsmen work on a new spa and waterfall for an outdated backyard pool.

When Sam and Laurie Boldrick moved into their '80s-era Alamo Heights condominium last year, the place needed a lot of work.

After spending five or six months on the interior — “We basically gutted the place,” said Sam, a San Antonio investment strategist — the couple turned their eye to the pool out back.

“It was horrible,” Sam Boldrick said. “Someone had tiled over this beautiful old brick decking with this cheap Chinese ceramic tile. The pool itself was old, and the whole area needed upgrading. A lot of the things previous owners did didn't make a lot of sense to us.”

The Boldricks' story is typical of homeowners with pools approaching the 15- to 20-year mark.

Boldrick called Artesian Pools, a company in Castle Hills, and his pool is being remodeled now.

“We remodel a lot of pools of varying complexities,” Corrigan said, adding a remodel takes about six weeks.

A new pool can cost $80,000 and more. For a basic remodel — new plaster, tiling at the water line and stone coping along the edge — expect to pay $5,000 to $10,000.

“It's mostly about aesthetics,” said Leif Zars, owner of Gary Pools. “You take an older pool and bring it up to date.”

But if homeowners want to enhance the pool decking with cut stone and add features such as custom plaster finishes, a hot tub, beach entry, a tanning ledge, a shallow area for children, new lighting, more water jets for circulation, an in-floor vacuuming system, a heater and an energy-efficient new pump, the cost can rise to as much as $100,000.

“It's like buying a car that costs X amount,” Zars said, “and then you add options to it.”

Aside from dated aesthetics, Brajkovic said the two biggest signs your pool may need a makeover are loss of water and difficulty in maintaining it.

If you keep having to top off your pool, it probably has a leak somewhere, either in the equipment or in the structure. If your water is chronically green and cloudy, you may need more returns, or water jets, to provide better circulation.

“Warm water in a Texas pool is like a Petri dish,” Corrigan said. “It grows things. But with more circulation, you are cleaning that water more frequently and efficiently.”

Pool technology and building codes have changed over the past two decades, so the pool remodeler should inspect all the plumbing and equipment in addition to the surface and decking.

“Then you go through the wish list,” Corrigan said.

Homeowners should do due diligence on a remodeler before committing to a project.

When Brett Smith decided to give his pool a facelift and add features for his grandchildren, he did it basically on “a handshake.”

Bad idea.

“It was an older pool, and it needed to be replastered, needed new equipment,” the San Antonio businessman said. “And we wanted to modify the pool to make it more kid-friendly as well.”

He hired a pool service company that did renovations on the side.

“I thought it was a safe harbor, but it turned out to be a nightmare,” he said.

Midway through the remodel, Smith discovered that rebar underpinning had been installed improperly and not installed at all in some areas. The pool is on a hill with about 10-percent grade, yet no structural piers were laid, he said.

“A shelf of concrete could have slid down the ravine,” he said.

He switched contractors, and Artesian finished the makeover in time for a July 4 celebration.

Smith, whose pool remodel ended up costing “in the six figures,” recommends signing a contract “with a great deal of specificity as to what you want and expect.” And he cautions to stay closely involved as the remodel progresses.

“Inspect the work at every option,” he stressed. “You have to be incredibly careful. And what I discovered is the laws are basically designed to protect the construction company rather than the homeowner.”

At the Boldrick job site in Alamo Heights, the drained pool looks forlorn. Its tile, coping and decking have been ripped away, its surface pocked and scarred where a new drain pipe has been installed.

“As we got into it, we discovered many things that needed attention and brought up to code,” Laurie Boldrick said. “Because codes have changed so much in the past 20 years, we thought we may as well do it correctly, all at once, and make it the way it should be.”

Brajkovic also is refurbishing the pool surface, applying an acid detergent and a bonding coat before replastering with a quartz finish. The final product will include cut limestone coping, brick decking and a quartz finish on the pool surface.